A woman has supposedly swallowed 51 condoms filled with heroin in an attempt to smuggle the drugs past airport security.

However, she was arrested on November 6 after arriving back in Canada at Vancouver International Airport. She was then promptly taken to a hospital, reports the Calgary Herald.

Doctors removed 51 condoms from her body, and said that she would have died had she not undergone surgery.

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Chief of airside and special enforcement operations Nicole Goodman said: "Ingesting narcotics to evade detection is a practice that is extremely dangerous for the courier, regardless of how well the pellets are wrapped.

"It is a life-threatening situation that requires immediate medical intervention."